Sunrockers coach Geoffrey Katsuhisa counts on team defense
Early in his career, Geoffrey Katsuhisa had the ideal mentor. Longtime NBA bench boss Bob Hill gave Katsuhisa invaluable advice and showed him the ins and outs of leading a pro basketball team. This occurred in the 2010-11 bj-league season, when Hill served as the ...
Hill has high hopes for Yao in new role as CBA president
Longtime NBA coach Bob Hill welcomed Yao Ming's unanimous appointment this week as the Chinese Basketball Association's new president. In fact, Hill, who has worked as a technical consultant for the Taiwan men's national team in recent years, hailed the move. "Yao is an iconic figure ...
B. League needs more marquee players
The B. League is doing a commendable job marketing and promoting itself in its inaugural season. Social media feeds and magazine reports are ever-present aspects of the publicity machine in the early stages of the 2016-17 campaign. What's more, TV highlights and game coverage via ...
Swift's comeback bid continues with tryout
Robert Swift's attempt to revive his pro basketball career continues. More than five-and-a-half years after playing his final professional game for the Tokyo Apache, the veteran center is vying to make a comeback in the NBA Development League. On Sunday, Swift participated in a workout, including ...
Aoki leaves lasting legacy on Japan hoops
Whenever he stepped on the court during 11 distinguished seasons as a special ambassador for Japan pro basketball, Cohey Aoki increased the visibility of the sport. Fans loved watching him play, and rightfully so. He displayed a pure joy for the game, but exhibited a ...
Armstrong extends career in Japan
The Chiba Jets' home gymnasium is far from the ultra-bright lights and mammoth-size arenas that dot the NBA landscape. But, in its first season, the new B. League offers rookies and seasoned veterans the same opportunity: a chance to play the game and earn a ...
Memories all that remain of bj-league
First in a two-part series Six weeks after the bj-league's final game, it's now a good time to dust the cobwebs off the memory bank . . . Hoop Scoop chronicled the highlights and lowlights of the final 10 seasons of the bj-league's wild 11-year run, ...
Aoki, Maki cherished chance to play for Hill
Second in a three-part series For the team's inaugural 2005-06 season in the bj-league, the Tokyo Apache hired a head coach with a catchy nickname and a globally renowned son named after a Japanese delicacy. Yes, Kobe's father, Joe "Jellybean" Bryant. The elder Bryant, who starred at ...
Former Apache team members, staff reflect on fateful 2010-11 season
First in a three-part series. The 2010-11 Tokyo Apache team delivered a memorable, unique product that will remain a part of Japan basketball lore for decades to come. To this observer, many memories of that team's final bj-league season are as fresh and vivid as they ...
Aoki looking to set B-Corsairs on even keel
As the season marches closer to the finish line, the Yokohama B-Corsairs are striving to develop consistency and climb in the Eastern Conference standings. Since the start of December, first-year bench boss Taketo Aoki’s club has had the following results: win, loss, loss, win, win, ...
Long wait ends as Hill returns to coach in NBA
Former Tokyo Apache head coach Bob Hill is back in the NBA after almost a decade's absence in which he worked several coaching stints around the globe. Hill accepted a job as an assistant with the struggling Phoenix Suns, and was on the bench on ...
League blows chance to honor Aoki
It's absolutely ridiculous that the most popular player in bj-league history is not going to play in the circuit's 10th and final All-Star Game. But it's not surprising. Really, it isn't. The bj-league has often failed to do things logically. And it's often failed to capitalize ...
